Eyes Wide and Searching
by Ramen Is Yummy
Summary: When the Queen dies, the colony dies with it. AU Narusasu SakuLee
1. Prologue

When the world went away, I was only five years old. It was the day after the girl down the street gave me my first kiss, and the year my baby brother was born.

For the past few months, there had been a gradual outbreak of what everyone started calling "The Kansai Virus". Scientists were baffled by its sudden appearance, and research was going slowly due to its unique and seemingly unnatural build.

It gave people intensified flu-like symptoms. I remembered seeing a classmate in preschool fall to the ground and vomit until he cried. After that, my parents didn't send me to school anymore. Public transportation started shutting down, people would only walk around with masks on, and strangers would go to great lengths to avoid contact with others. I was just happy I could stay home with Mother and Father. I was blissfully unaware of the chaos surrounding me, content with my innocent life of a friendly neighborhood and tight-knit apartment complex.

Then the virus mutated.

People started acting strange, becoming paranoid and delusional. Eventually, they spiralled out of control and were consumed by an inescapable urge, a rage that drove them to an insanity that warped reality. They became something that was no longer human, tearing others apart and mercilessly infecting masses. Fear and panic spread throughout all of Japan, and anyone that had managed to escape the country had carried the dormant virus to other lands.

Soon, the whole world was panicking and shutting itself away. The unnatural abominations people became under the virus's thrall was a horror that was inescapable. Even locking yourself in a safe house was barely a small comfort.

The day we shut ourselves in the apartment, the day the world went away, I asked my parents if we were being attacked by zombies. My father shook his head and tried not to laugh while my mother smiled sadly, stroking my hair with slender fingers that trembled under the weight of the future.

Our apartment complex had thirty stories, large and full with families and singles and roommates all banding together to lock the doors and form a community within its walls. Windows were boarded up on lower floors and all exits were secured for difficult entry, but easy escape. Only the fastest men and women could leave when supplies were needed, and upon return they were checked for infection. If a family were to contract the virus, all apartments in the immediate hall were evacuated, and the space would be closed off permanently from the rest of the complex. Rules were strict, but they kept us safe and alive, our community flourishing within one of millions of buildings in Japan.

My mother gave birth to my little brother on a hot day in July, her groaning and screaming echoing throughout the halls as women flooded our apartment with comfort and congratulations. There was a night-shift nurse on the fifth floor and two researchers on the sixteenth; they were our "doctors".

My baby brother was very pale, his skin milky and covered in what I thought was butter at the time*. I stared in awe of his beady, black eyes and thin, thin hair. His hands flexed as he breathed in his first breath and cried, his voice so shrill and piercing. I thought to myself, 'No person can be so small' as my heart seemed to swell and burst past its breaking point. It was the first time in my life that I felt an overwhelming sense of love.

 _"Sasuke,"_ my mother sighed happily, _"We'll name him Sasuke._ "

I knew right then and there that Sasuke would mean the world to me, and that I wanted to work hard and be the best older brother to live. I wanted him to admire me and look to me for protection and guidance. I wanted his eyes to light up whenever I was near, for him to look at me with the same awed look I gave him when he was born.

Little Sasuke was a well-behaved baby. A happy child, he didn't cry as much as the others within the complex, and he was certainly the most amiable and adorable - at least in my eyes. I held him whenever my mother gave me the opportunity, and I would help her change his diapers or keep an eye on him when he slept. Mother was so happy that I accepted Sasuke so eagerly, and Father was proud that I was taking responsibilities at such a young age in such a strange time.

And suddenly, it was as if the world never went away.

Then others came.

They stood outside of the complex on a chilly October night, shivering and panting, out of breath and frightened. _"Please, let us in!"_ a man pounded on the entrance to the complex in desperation, _"My wife's in labor!"_

He had blond hair and blue eyes, while his wife's hair was red, red, red. The color burned itself into my memory. They were foreigners, maybe a couple that had been on vacation before the airport shut down. The woman was hyperventilating and holding in pained groans as she struggled to stay standing.

 _"Please, we have medicine!"_ the man bargained. I stood there, along with many of our residents, watching helplessly as the man gave up and attempted to move his wife somewhere safer. Not too far away, she collapsed in his arms and had to be laid to give birth.

I wondered why no one was doing anything. I heard excuses flying through the air: The noises were attracting the infected; they would let in the disease; they were foreigners; they were people we didn't know.

No one moved to help the ones outside who were clearly not infected. It made me confused, and when I grew old enough to understand what had happened, it made me _sick_. Those were human beings outside our doors, and no one moved to give a helping hand. I was only a child, but I was no better. We only stood and watched as the woman gave birth, as the infected ran towards her restrained screams of labor and grabbed her and bit her before the baby even popped out. We watched as the man fought with all of his strength to keep them away; watched as the woman cried happy tears at the baby's living cries; watched her whisper a name across his forehead with her last healthy breath before turning into one of _them_ and trying to attack her own child; watched as the man struggled to rip the newborn from her grasp, and watched as my father came into the room and gave an enraged shout at the sight he saw.

 _"Why is no one doing anything?"_ He shoved his way past the crowd of useless bystanders and opened the doors, causing a wave of panic to electrify the lobby, every human standing within being affected.

 _"Minato!"_ Father shouted, somehow recognizing the blond man struggling to keep his baby alive. Without thinking, my father grabbed a metal pole by the door and rushed out, saving both the foreigner and his child and bringing them into the safety of our home. The virus was kept outside the walls for another day. Hero. My father was a hero.

The blond man, Minato, cried helplessly in his arms and thanked him for the humanity he still showed. The rest of the residents had left him and a child to die. Father glared at his fellow humans, and scolded them for their sorry behavior, making sure they felt lower than dirt for their lack of action. It was the day Uchiha Fugaku became the leader of our community.

 _"What's your baby's name?"_ he asked the man quietly.

A sob, _"Naruto."_

Naruto drank my mother's breast milk, and he slept with Sasuke in his crib. Though not nearly as cute as my brother, I grew fond of the blond baby, taking him under my wing as a brother as well. The two of them made me smile, their innocent and curious nature a ray of light in that boarded-up complex.

I watched in amusement as they curiously patted each other with uncoordinated hands. I watched with smiling eyes as Sasuke made Naruto laugh over seemingly nothing, their grins large and toothless. I watched with pride when they learned to walk and said their first words: Sasuke's "mama" and Naruto's "papa". I watched with warmth in my heart as we played tag and hide-and-seek together, as they laughed and screamed with mock fright when I chased them. I watched with awe in my eyes as they took up studying at the age of five.

 _"I'm gonna cure everybody,"_ Naruto had shouted, his wisdom beyond his years disguised by his prankster personality and obnoxious nature.

They asked me to teach them everything I know, to show them how be adults - but they were only five. And suddenly, the fantasy was starting to form shadows in its corners. The harsh reality of the world we lived in was starting to crash down on me. I wanted them to stay innocent, to be blissfully unaware, like I had been at their age. But that was not the case, and so I played big brother and taught them how to survive.

 _"Nii-san, what are those things in the sky?"_

 _"They're called birds, Sasuke."_

 _"How come they're outside, and not us?"_

 _"Do not be fooled, little brother. They carry the evil with them; they infect people too."_

When Sasuke turned seven, he was given his first kiss by the daughter of the Harunos. I watched in amusement as Sasuke turned as pink as the girl's hair and stayed quiet, acting unusually shy. I was with him when he told Naruto later on, and the latter pretended to be disgusted while laughing happily about his best friend's luck. It was only a month later that Naruto received his first kiss too, and soon the boys were catching all of the girl's attention.

 _"Nii-san, do you remember what it's like outside?"_

 _"You've seen the world from the balcony, haven't you?" Sasuke spent most of his time there._

 _"It doesn't seem like it should be so quiet."_

 _"No, it shouldn't."_

 _"There has to be something more."_

At the age of nine, Naruto had grown in a way that baffled others. I spied on my mother whispering to Minato late one night in the kitchen, her voice sharp and her brows furrowed with concern. The only word that caught my attention was "unnatural". Looking at the young blond next to my brother, you could see the obvious difference. Even with the same diet and the same amount of daily activity, the boys were not the same in size. Sasuke looked almost delicate and was slightly petite, like all boys that grew indoors, while Naruto was broad and looked to be developing bigger muscles. It was decided that Naruto would be a runner for supplies. Sasuke cried himself to sleep in my bed.

 _"Nii-san, is Naruto going to die? Will he get infected?"_

 _"Don't worry, Sasuke. He's only a child, he won't be doing any dangerous runs."_

 _"But what about later? What about those dangerous ones?"_

 _"Then all you can do is pray for his return."_

On Sasuke's twelfth birthday, Naurto was three days late from a run. For those three days Sasuke cried in my bed. The best present he could have ever gotten was Naruto's safety, and when he walked through the door limping, Sasuke shamelessly threw himself on the other. Never had I seen my little brother, normally so poised and perfect, act in such a way. The birthday celebration could finally begin, and it was the year I gave Sasuke a pair of binoculars I had found. I always remembered his smiling face when he opened it.

After they thought everyone had gone to bed, Naruto and Sasuke kissed. I watched in mild confusion, because in all of my years alive I had never seen two boys kiss each other, but they clearly were used to doing it all the time. The thought had never crossed my mind. Naruto and Sasuke had a lot of girls in the complex that liked them, but they liked each other instead - and it definitely made little to no sense, but it seemed harmless and they looked happy. I kept quiet and gave them their privacy.

 _"Nii-san, there's so much green out there! It's so beautiful, I saw with my binoculars. I want to go and explore it, to touch and feel."_

 _"Sasuke... pining for something so dangerous will only lead to trouble."_

 _"There are other creatures out there, too, Nii-san. Ones that aren't the monsters."_

 _"Tell Naruto to bring you something next time he runs."_

 _"..."_

When Sasuke was thirteen years old, he got a fever. We were all worried and feared the worst: that Sasuke would somehow contract the virus and become an inhuman monster. We closed him off in his room with the balcony door open in hopes that his sickness would be carried away by the wind. No one was allowed in the room for more than five minutes: we were to drop off his food and water and that was it. We had to wear masks.

His illness only grew worse. He was plagued by high fevers and vomiting, his small muscles weakening even further and his weight deteriorating.

 _"Sasuke, what's this scab on your finger?"_

 _"...This? I saw a bird on the balcony and I tried to touch it. It got scared and bit me."_

 _"Oh god, Sasuke..!"_

It was at the age of thirteen that we all thought we were going to have to say goodbye to my brother.

It was the only time I had seen Naruto kiss Sasuke and had done something to stop it. "Do you want to get sick too?!" I had screamed, and I knew that the fear I saw in his eyes was the same fear that was reflecting off of me. Naruto and I shared a bed that night, comforting each other, because the inevitable was crawling into the walls and suffocating us slowly.

Then there was suddenly hope: Sasuke was somehow getting better.

He slowly began to eat meals and keep them down, and he was glowing a little more, his cheeks becoming full and blushing happily. Minato, eternally grateful to my father, offered to go off in search of some more medicine. Sasuke would finally be able to keep it down.

 _"I want to go!"_

 _"Naruto, no! Are you crazy? You're not old enough for this one, stay here with Mikoto and help her take care of Sasuke!"_

 _"I don't want you to go alone!"_

Young Naruto was brave and impulsive, but he was not stupid. His father was his only living relative, whereas Sasuke and I had both a mother, a father and each other. I didn't blame the boy for wanting to give himself a peace of mind, but I knew that going outside on such a dangerous run was a rather bad idea for a twelve-year-old. There were many heated arguments, in which I knew Sasuke attempted to listen through the walls of his room. I was glad he couldn't hear, because I knew his heart would break if Naruto were to leave now.

Two weeks after Minato had left, Sasuke's ill condition was gradually fading. The only ailment he had to deal with was constant fevers, but those were easily taken care of with sweating and sleeping. Naruto had suddenly taken to looking out the kitchen window longingly, as if staring at a past memory he couldn't quiet remember, but made his heart swell all the same. It was always when the sun was setting, and at first I took it as him watching the only beautiful display we could enjoy, but that was not what he was looking at. _"Someone's calling me,_ " he whispered one night, and those words haunted me for the rest of my days.

 _"Nii-san, how do you know if you're in love?"_

On a cold, September morning, we discovered Naruto was missing. The community banded together and searched the entire complex. They even searched the immediate area surrounding the building. He was gone.

Upon entering Sasuke's room, I noticed right away the open balcony doors, and out those doors there was a rope made of bed sheets cascading down towards the ground. This was how he had escaped. Only, we lived on the eighth floor of the building, and the rope didn't even make it past the sixth. He would not have made that jump, there should've been a dead body right outside the building.

But there was nothing, only emptiness. That was what Mother had sobbed out when she realized he was gone. That was what Sasuke had said to describe his heart.

 _"Nii-san, will I always feel this way?"_

 _I didn't have the heart to tell him "yes"._

When Sasuke turned fourteen, Minato returned. He came home with a dead body wrapped in a tattered blanket. _"No, no! I don't want to see that!"_ Mother had screamed. She knew who it was. We all knew who it was.

The blond man who had become an uncle to me fell to his knees in the living room and pulled the body closer to himself. The smell was atrocious, and I almost threw up from the power of that body's stench. _"Why would you do this!"_ My mother was hysterical, trying to rip herself away from the sight, but failing miserably. Father approached Minato cautiously, putting a strong hand on his shoulder and asking calmly why he would bring little Naruto's dead body into their home.

Minato sobbed, a battered man holding a forever-broken child. It was then that Sasuke moved. He had been frozen in shock, but now that was gone, and now he needed to know if it was really the boy he loved. He needed the confirmation, and I did nothing to stop it, my own sick and twisted curiosity keeping me stiff. The blanket was ripped off...

... and it wasn't him.

 _"Minato, what is the meaning of this?"_ Father roared as we all stared at the dark-haired boy decaying in a stranger's arms. It wasn't Naruto.

 _"They took my son!"_ Minato screamed, _"THEY TOOK MY SON! THEY TOOK MY SON!"_ His voice was loud and shrill, my ears itching as we all visibly shook from the intensity of his cries. Something wasn't right.

 _"THEY TOOK MY SON! THEY TOOK MY SON! THEY TOOK MY SON-"_

Something was very, very wrong.

 _"U-Uncle!"_ Sasuke cried out as he tried to swoop in and comfort the suddenly unfamiliar man kneeling before us. Something was wrong!

Minato's eyes looked a sickly purple before bursting into a bright, bright red that pierced through my skull. His teeth were bloody and he was snarling as he glared at us. This was not our uncle. He suddenly let out an agonized howl and pounced, attempting to tear Sasuke limb from limb. _"He's infected!"_ my father cried as he and my mother moved to rip Minato away from my brother. I held Sasuke in my arms once he was released, and my father shoved Minato into the kitchen and hard against the cabinets. _"Mikoto, take the children!"_ My mother did not hesitate to grab onto Sasuke and I, leading us towards the hallway to warn the others. Before we could reach the door, we heard footsteps coming after us and we quickly hid in a nearby closet.

 _"Mikoto...?"_

 _"Fugaku!"_ My mother gasped happily, _"Did you..."_ she trailed off, now upset _, "Did you kill him?"_

 _"Yes,"_ my father was panting, _"I'm sorry."_

 _"No, dear, don't be sorry. We couldn't -"_ the door broke off its hinges and shattered into pieces as my father barreled through, his eyes glowing crimson in the dark closet. We all let out a cry, my mother screaming shrilly as Father bit into her neck. Sasuke screamed, his eyes unable to tear away from the scene as I pulled him out of the closet and towards the front door.

We were both crying, but I needed to stay strong, so I ripped the door open and threw ourselves into the hallway. I could hear the booming of heavy footsteps following at an alarming speed. The children playing in the hall screamed in terror, and soon everyone on our floor was out in the narrow passage and scrambling for their lives.

The exit to the stairwell! If we could only get to the exit, then we could close off the floor and make it out alive! My eyes never left the exit as I weaved through the crowd of neighbors, Sasuke in my grasp and as close as possible. He tried to help several small children, but I wouldn't let him - couldn't let him. I needed to fulfill my selfish desire of Sasuke and I staying side-by-side, alive.

The others were being infected at a rapid rate, their claws and bleeding teeth coming closer and closer as we all rushed towards the safe haven of the stairwell. My eyes never left that exit, even as our pace was slowed down by the amounts of bodies piling up around us, even as the screams grew nearer, even as we were jerked back by bloody hands.

 _"NII-SAN!"_

My eyes never left that exit.

* * *

A/N:

* _Vernix caseosa_ , or just vernix, is the white, greasy-looking coating on the skin of newborn babies. I used to think it was butter, so I thought Itachi could think the same.

I will try to update as much as possible; my goal is every two weeks. Right now things are a little hectic, but writing this fiction helps relax me so hopefully I can stick with my plans. Please be patient with me.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto.

 **Eyes Wide and Searching**

Haruno Sakura sat hunched over a closed toilet seat sobbing quietly into cold hands. _Please, please, please,_ she thought over and over as she sniffled and coughed with a plague of anxiety. The pink-haired woman had always been very careful throughout her life. Her parents taught her that following the laws of precaution were the key to survival in such a chaotic world. This time she had not been careful enough. The moment her cycle had been disrupted, dread had clawed its way into her chest and nestled there, the next few days building up with her denial. This couldn't be happening.

This couldn't be happening to _her._

She was one of the top scientists in the facility, taking after her genius parents in the laboratory that used to be known as Tokyo University's Medical Research Center. The only reason she was allowed to live in the safety of the facility was because of her job and lack of children.

Her parents had been forced to fend for themselves and somehow make the commute to work once they had her. Now they lived happily in the center while working hard to find a cure to the Kansai virus...

No, no! She couldn't go back! She couldn't go back to that rotting apartment complex! Sakura let out a low whine as she sobbed harder, her hands hiding her despair.

"Stop crying, Sakura," Sasuke's bored voice echoed as he walked into the bathroom, pregnancy test in hand, "it came out negative."

"Oh, oh thank you!" Her hands left her face and reached towards the ceiling. She sniffled one last time before letting out a long sigh, her shoulders slumping as she grabbed her handkerchief and blew into it. "Oh, I can't wait to tell Lee-san the news," Sakura hiccuped and looked up to see Sasuke offering her his hand. Accepting it, she was brought to her feet and she followed him into the small dormitory they shared within the building.

"I'm sure he would've been happy if it came out positive."

"Sasuke, let's be realistic here," Sakura continued to wipe her face off, "if Lee-san and I had a kid, where could we possibly go? The only place I could think of would be-"

"No, I wouldn't allow it," Sasuke huffed as he removed his lab coat and hung it on the door to his closet, "Besides, the military provides protection for its soldiers' children. You could learn to rely on your boyfriend." Sakura crossed her arms and pouted as she collapsed onto her twin mattress.

The two of them rarely talked about their old home in the thirty-story apartment. In early September, when Sakura was fourteen, chaos had erupted on the eigth floor of the building. There was an outbreak, the floor residents' screams echoing throughout the edifice as they tried to make it to the staircase and survive.

Sakura had been playing in the general area when the outbreak occurred - in fact, she had been on her way to see if Sasuke was feeling up to hanging out with her. She heard them banging on the door, piling up in a mass of pus and blood as they attempted to get the pull on the handle right.

Fearing for her life, Sakura had turned to make a mad dash up the stairs and back to her floor, but then she heard the door open, and there was a roar of screaming and snarling and desperate shuffling as someone, someone small, slipped around in a puddle of blood.

It was Sasuke.

His shoulder was bleeding into his shirt and his eyes were round with a depth to them that was never there before. He had seen more in those past few minutes than he had in his lifetime and Sakura knew it - could see it in that second - that Sasuke would never be the same and that he needed her more than ever.

Sakura quickly ran back down towards him and slammed her body against the doorway, the both of them pushing the disease back into the eighth floor's hall. When they heard the click, they activated the locking mechanism their mechanically-inclined neighbors had installed. It was shut.

Sasuke's childhood and beloved memories were forever locked away in a hellish prison.

 _"Your shoulder..!" Sakura had gasped upon checking her friend over. There was a clear imprint of disease-ridden teeth and suddenly the pink-haired girl was no longer relieved._

 _"It was Itachi," Sasuke's voice was desperate and pleading, "But, Sakura, please look! I haven't changed! I'm still okay..."_

That day, Sasuke became a member of the Haruno family, raised alongside Sakura as a brother and friend. The two became inseparable, held together by their shared loss of Naruto and their secret of Sasuke's incredible immunity to the disease.

 _"They'll test on you," Sakura had told him that night as they lied in their shared bed. Sakura's parents were researchers at the old university a few blocks away. Their undoubted determination to find a cure could've possibly been Sasuke's demise._

Years later, the unofficial siblings were residing in the same facility they intended to avoid - for the sake of living in a safer place, but more importantly for finding a cure to the disease that took everything away from them.

"I love Lee-san, but I want to stay here, where I can be with you both," Sakura's brows furrowed to display her inner turmoil.

A family was all she had truly desired as a child, a home where her parents weren't always away saving the world - because Sakura would be their world - and there was no disease to threaten their happiness. Sasuke had been the only one to give her a sense of family, a brother that would always protect and comfort her. If she left with Lee, she could have a taste of having her own family, have a taste of the outside world, but then she would have to give up Sasuke. The weight on her heart at such a decision was too heavy to carry so far.

Sasuke sighed, feeling rather seflish at the relief he felt then. He didn't want to be alone. "Sakura, you need to be safer. If you have a kid, you'll have to leave," _and I'll be worred,_ was left hanging in the air.

The pinkette sighed once again and made herself comfortable on her bed. She still had time before she was due in the lab, and a nap sounded like the perfect way to rid herself of the stress of her pregnancy scare.

"Did you hear about Aika-san?" She began, changing the topic, "Her daughter's pregnant."

"Isn't her daughter _eleven years old?_ " Sasuked growled incredulously from his own bed.

"Mm," Sakura nodded her head and then shrugged her shoulders, "People start having sex at such a young age now, it's no real surprise to me. I lost my virginity when I was around fourteen or fifteen years old, I forget - and you were like, what, thirteen?"

Sasuke nodded his head mechanically.

"I wouldn't be surprised if there were nine-year-olds out there trying it out," Sakura rolled over, trying to ignore the sudden tension in the air, but she couldn't. Sitting there in silence for a few minutes, she felt dread while internally addressing the elephant in the room. Sakura contemplated the consequences of finding out the answer to the question she was about to ask.

"Do you still love him?" she whispered.

When Sasuke remained silent, Sakura's shoulders tensed as she tried to stop herself from crying, "Stop doing this to yourself! Don't you get it? It's been _eleven_ years already! Naruto's gone!"

Silence.

"Naruto's _dead,_ Sasuke!"

Sasuke got up and left the room without another word.

* * *

 _I don't understand,_ Sasuke thought to himself as he brought his hand to the glass of the observation room, _How can a virus turn a human into a monster?_ His breath fogged the SR.

"Does it hurt, Itachi?" The name hung in the air before a loud _bang_ against the glass made Sasuke jump away in fright. A face appeared before him, once the face of his brother, scarred and bleeding from the gums as he bared his teeth.

His hands clawed against the window separating them, leaving long, red streaks of bloodlust to paint a clear wall between healthy and infected. Sasuke frowned, raising a hand back up against the glass and overlapping Itachi's clawing appendage, trying to find that same connection he had with his older brother as a kid.

It was gone.

Back when Sasuke first joined the research staff, he wanted nothing more than to dive into files and tests to find a cure faster than any researcher before him. He had the advantage of his own immune blood, and he would avenge his family and friends and rid the world of this virus before it took any more from him.

Lee was an old acquaintance of his from the apartment complex, and so when he was reintroduced into his life as a military guard at the facility, Sasuke immediately set out to bring his family to the lab so that they would get the cure first.

The team of two broke into the eight floor of the decomposing building with guns and padding, only to find Itachi by himself, everyone around him only bones as he peeled off the mold on the walls for sustenance.

How many times had he tested on his brother? How many times had he strapped him down and injected him with failure after failure; watched him suffer through each and everyone one? How many nights had he cried in his bed at the thought that maybe there was no cure, and Itachi would eventually die alone in that padded observation room? How much blood had he pulled furiously from his own veins?

With a sigh, Sasuke backed away from the glass so that Itachi would stop roaring and attempting to claw his way to him. The older Uchiha eventually lost interest when he realized he wasn't getting out of his cage. He turned and made his way to a corner where he normally sat and twitched.

Sasuke took in deep breaths and rolled his eyes to the ceiling as he blinked away the pain and furstration forming in the corners of his eyes. He grunted. He couldn't keep losing hope. The cure was somewhere within him, he just wasn't looking in the right place.

"Sasuke?" he turned abruptly, not expecting another scare so soon.

"Are you going to do another test? You're not allowed to alone, you know." A fellow researcher and friend, Uzumaki Karin, came walking into the room, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she took in the sight before her. "Not that I care," she added quickly, attempting to act disinterested in anything concerning Uchiha.

Sasuke sighed, "No, I was just visiting."

The other girl raised her eyebrow, but said nothing more. She had no problem sitting in silence with the young man. He was certainly something one could simply stare at: pale, perfect skin and dark eyes and hair. He looked like a carefully sculpted Oiran doll, so smooth and seemingly untouchable that you can call it nothing but beautiful. He was lean and lacking muscle like most indoor men, but where it made the others look frail and weak, Karin thought it made Sasuke look sleek and cunning.

While the other wasn't looking, Karin curiously glanced over at his clipboard, wanting very badly to see what was underneath his papers. Sasuke was a popular man amongst the woman at the research facility, and according to a reliable source, the Uchiha hid an old photograph underneath all of his important documents.

Half of her curiosity went into seeing what was so important to the usually stoic man, while the other half was interested because printed photographs didn't exist anymore.

"Sasuke," she drawled, dragging out his name casually as she picked up the clipboard, "do you have the files on - " her sentence was stopped short by what she saw in the picture. It was a lovely rectangle that was mostly white, but there was a square in the middle that held a memory - what appeared to be Sasuke's family enjoying themselves in a big room.

She assumed the woman standing on the far left must've been his mother, a beautiful smile on her face as she held up a pretty dress. A man with black hair - Sasuke's father? - was looking over at her with adoration and approval of the garb; Itachi was sitting there, his skin glowing with health and wisdom as he played a game of shogi with her uncle, Minato.

She had known him since birth, but he had disappeared with her pregnant aunt when she was only two years old. The only memory she had of him was his face. Sakura was running towards Mikoto, seemingly in awe of the dress. She was slightly blurry, but her pink hair was hard to miss. Sasuke was there as well; a bright, happy smile on his face as he wrestled with -

Tears sprung to her eyes, falling so quickly with nothing to catch them, "Naruto..." Karin whispered shakily, her hands trembling so badly that she nearly ripped the picture in half.

Sasuke turned at the mention of _his_ name and saw his lab partner clutching his most prized possession. "Hey!" he yelled harshly, about ready to pounce on Karin and rip the photo away from her. But then he realized what she had said, that her uttering of _his_ name had not been some hallucination, but very real and the source of her sudden misery.

"You... _know_ him?" But how? How could she know Naruto? He had been with Sasuke's family since his birth right outside of the complex. The only people that should be able to recognize the blond were those residing in the building.

How did Karin, who he hadn't met until he was eighteen, know _Naruto?_

"How do you know him," Sasuked pushed - demanded - no matter how much talking about him hurt, no matter how much he wanted to cry alongside the redhead.

She took in a few shaky breaths before letting the picture fall into Sasuke's hands as she turned to leave, "I - I can't talk about it. I'm sorry I looked at your things." She truly was.

Before she could finish turning the knob on the door, the Uchiha was nearly on top of her as he forced her to turn and speak to him. "No, you _will_ talk about it," he hissed, " _How do you know Naruto?"_

Karin opened her mouth to speak when, suddenly, Sakura bursted into the room, nearly knocking the two of them over.

"Sasuke!" the pink-haired girl nearly screamed as she made her presence known through harsh breathing and searching, green eyes. Looking behind the door and finding her frightened friends, her excitement seemed to intensify.

"Karin!" she acknowledged quickly before announcing the point behind her hurried arrival, "You two need to come see this! It's amazing!"

"What is it, Sakura?" Karin was eager to keep the subject away from her association with the blond boy in the photo.

"You're not going to believe this," Sakura was nearly crying in disbelief, happiness and a little bit of doubt.

"They found someone that's been cured!"

* * *

Impossible.

There was no way that this was possible.

Several researchers were surrounding a spectacle that was literally thrown onto their doorstep earlier that day. It was a male in his early twenties: brown, shaggy hair and tanned skinned; red, red eyes and blood painting most of his body. He was calm and collected, probably from the copius amounts of drugs injected into him to keep him in such a state. Besides the obvious red-eyed indication that he had been infected, he looked perfectly healthy and functional.

"The higher-ups say that he was dropped off by another of the infected that seemed to be in control of himself. He was dying, and so two of our researchers took him in and fixed his wounds before he woke up - but he got onto his feet like any other person!" a woman they rarely worked with was blabbering in the crowd, spreading as much gossip as she could.

Another woman quickly joined in, "I heard that he has absolutely no trace of the virus in his blood, so that means - "

"That means there's no cure in his blood," Sasuke finished quietly to Sakura, the both of them inconspicuously taking their seats in the large lecture hall.

"So this is just a dead end?" Sakura whispered incredulously, "This can't just be it! This is someone that escaped the virus with only red irises as evidence, this can't just be it!"

There was suddenly a loud murmur that pulsed through the crowd as a screen at the front of the room turned on. It displayed to everyone a closer look at the man on the examination table. His eyes were opening, the red so bright and deceivingly enticing. The head scientist of the facility cleared his throat and those eyes directed themselves towards him slowly, looking him over - almost as if he was determining whether he was a threat or not.

"Do you know your name?" the older man asked the younger, making sure to keep his tone soft and friendly. The brunette lied still in silence for a few seconds before slowly opening his mouth and letting out a raspy answer.

"Inuzuka Kiba."

On the screen a file of the man's records suddenly displayed, the computer recognizing the name out of over 100,000,000.

"Where are you from?"

"Shibuya." Everyone's eyes kept jumping from Kiba's face to the information alongside his image, matching each vocal answer with his file.

"This is incredible," Sakura whispered in awe. Her mind could hardly wrap around the fact that someone who had been on the outside was speaking so clearly and answering questions quickly and correctly. This was something worth celebrating, the perfect boost in morale that these scientists so desperately needed to keep going and find the cure.

Sakura looked over to Sasuke, only to find him staring at something other than the spectacle at the front of the lecture hall. Karin stood at the very back of the auditorium instead of sitting with the others. Her arms were crossed and she stared at Kiba with a controlled and serious expression.

"What is your date of birth?"

"The 7th of July."

"Are you really Inuzuka Kiba?" Karin's voice echoed throughout the room, bringing on an incredulous silence that suddenly made everyone nervous.

What a strange question to ask... but what would the answer be? Sasuke clenched his jaw as he stared at the young brunette, who had suddenly sat up from his lying position on the examination table. His eyes closed in on the redhead as he revealed a smile on his face, genuine and soothing.

"No," was his answer, and a rush of whispered conversations sailed over Sasuke's head.

The head of research, Akira Michio, glared up nastily at Karin before turning back to the specimen, "Who are you, then?" he asked, taking control once again.

"I am simply borrowing this body, you can call me The Borrower." Kiba's voice was mocking.

"We asked _who_ you are," this was now a demand, and Akira's voice was no longer so pleasant and inviting.

"I'm the Queen, of course." Gasps were heard throughout the room, and more whispered conversations bloomed in the field of lab coats. Sasuke and Sakura heard random fragments, but what appeared to be the main topic was that, apparently, the "rumors" going around were true.

Rumors that Sakura and Sasuke had not heard of.

They turned to each other with identical expressions of confusion and curiosity. The Queen was someone that everyone knew of but them. Sasuke almost felt insulted, but upon further inspection of the crowd, he found many that seemed to be captured by a similar confusion.

"What's this 'Queen' stuff all about?" Sakura found herself asking someone next to her, tugging on Sasuke's arm so that he would lean in and listen to the conversation. The woman next to the pair was trying not to express her anger as she explained.

"The Queen had always been just a rumor - because we couldn't _fathom_ the idea of our fellow researchers hiding something so valuable from us - but it's apparently a theory that has been building up over the years: though the virus still certainly has us flabbergasted with its constant change in genetic material, a very general look at it from the outside shows some sort of system it follows, similar to that of an ant colony. So the idea is... well, what happens when you kill the queen ant?"

Sasuke's eyes widened considerably, "The colony dies out..."

"So, what you're saying is that killing the host with the "queen" of the virus will get rid of all of the other infected?"

"That's the idea," the woman shrugged. Their attention was suddenly taken back towards the others in the room as the shouting grew louder.

"Then it is true!"

"You've been hiding things from us!"

"Is this research that could've helped us find a cure sooner?"

The crowd was beginning to get out of hand, angry voices flooding the floor as cries of injustice and secrecy were thrown like holy water on a hissing demon. The senior researchers and teachers attempted to quiet down the crowd with manipulation and false words of togetherness and trust, but what brought the thunder of their shouts to a low rumble was the body of Inuzuka Kiba - but mind of the Queen - that suddenly stood tall on his strong-looking legs and raised a hand in a gesture that granted him silence. Everyone looked on curiously as he lowered the bloodied appendage and made eye contact with no one in particular.

"I just wanted to make an announcement," he began quietly, "I wanted you all to know that I am very much still alive.." The Queen waited until the sudden murmur died down, "I am still alive, and I haven't forgotten what you've done. I won't rest until I get her back!"

No one knew what he was talking about.

"I _am_ grateful towards you for taking in this human and nursing him back to health, and so I will allow you to make a choice: you will either give in to me and allow my rule, or you will oppose me and meet your demise."

"What the _hell_ is he talking about?" Someone whispered harshly behind Sakura.

"He's talking complete nonsense!"

"Maybe this 'queen' thing isn't real after all, this guy's just delusional after having contracted the virus and it won't go away."

" _If you choose your doom,_ " Kiba's voice suddenly boomed loudly, causing some to jump, "I'll be seeing you soon. You know I'm always around," he flashed the crowd a smirk before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed.

* * *

"What the _hell_ was that all about?" Sakura nearly shrieked as she paced the dorm she shared with Sasuke. "When they said there was a scientific miracle happening in that room, I didn't expect a fucking scene out of a sci-fi novel!" She nearly pulled her hair out at the memory of the bizarre event, and how senior scientist Akira Michio attempted to just brush the whole thing off as a hallucination the patient was having due to heavy sedatives.

They were hiding something, and now this safe haven was a truly frightening place.

She felt angry about being left out of such delicate research, she felt paranoid about what else the facility - maybe even the government - could be hiding from her, but the worst was that she felt betrayed. Her mother had always been under Akira's direct tutelage, meaning both of her parents had probably known of this since she was a child.

"A _queen_ of the virus, a possessed man that shows up bloody and injured on our doorstep? This is ridiculous! Now I'm going to ask you seriously, Lee-san," the pinkette turned to her boyfriend with a deadly glare, "Did you know anything about this?"

The energetic soldier quickly put his hands up in self-defense, sweat forming on his brow, "I swear, Sakura-san! I didn't know! I still don't know! May I ask what it is you're even talking about?!"

"Ugh!" Sakura threw her hands up in frustration, not even bothering to explain what she was raging about to the oblivious Lee. He quickly accepted his fate and sat quietly on her bed, looking at his legs in contemplation.

Sasuke was in a similar position, his lean form hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers laced together in front of his face. There were pieces that had been thrown in the air, all he had to do was try and link them together: the virus, the Queen, the cure and the secrecy. There was so much more to it and it was giving the Uchiha a headache.

Silence echoed throughout the room as Sakura finally let up on her pacing and slumped on her bed next to Lee. The brunette shifted awkwardly before finally lifting up his head and speaking up.

"So, Sasuke-san, you mentioned earlier that Karin knew Naruto-kun?"

Sakura tensed and Sasuke's eyes snapped towards Lee, wondering where he was getting at. The only reason the soldier was mentioning such a touchy subject was for a desperate need in topic change. He didn't like feeling confused and frustrated about something he knew nothing about, and he would selfishly feel better bringing up a sad memory they could all share rather than an angry thought that would be taken out on him.

"What's with that?" Sakura suddenly yelled, "How can she possibly know Naruto?"

"She's a year older than me - two years older than you," Lee added helpfully.

"Yes, that's true, but that doesn't change the circumstance at all. Naruto has been with us since birth and Karin has not."

"He was born right outside of the complex with several witnesses that can attest to only his mother and father being out there to protect him," Sasuke kept her chain of thoughts going.

"But that doesn't mean there weren't _other_ witnesses," Lee held up a hand to stop any interruptions, "Karin-san's family could've watched the whole thing but did nothing to help in fear of endangering their youth: Karin-san."

"But Karin wouldn't even remember that. She would've been like, what, two years old?"

"Children _are_ able to form solid memories before the age of three," Sasuke drawled, "but let's not start delving into that. Let's assume the most probable, that Karin _might_ remember Naruto's parents, but never got the chance to meet Naruto as a baby." Lee and Sakura leaned in, interested in Sasuke's theory.

"That only leaves the possibility that Karin met Naruto _after_ he disappeared. Meaning, she knows where he might be. Or, judging by her reaction to the photograph, he might actually be... _dead._ " Sasuke's voice cracked with a hint of emotion. He sobered his expression and sighed.

"Karin knows something that we obviously don't."

"Yes, I do."

The three spun around so quickly that their necks cracked. Karin stood in the doorway, a solemn expression on her face as she took in her friends' distressed appearances.

"Come with me."


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto.

 **Eyes Wide and Searching**

The hallway was darker than the others, the lights seeming to dim more and more the farther down they traveled. Staircase after staircase were descended in silent contemplation.

Uzumaki Karin was always harsh and outspoken, but sometimes shy and caring - a _tsundere_ , as Sakura had affectionately called it. Though a rather embarrassing term, Karin had taken it in stride, using her mask of indifference and irritation to somehow weave her way into their hearts. She was their gossiper, but also their loyal friend.

Only, now, their feelings were on shaky waters, the deep calm suddenly far too vast and frightening. The fear of the unknown was gripping at their throats like easy prey.

The redhead was currently leading the trio to a lower level in the facility that they were sure they had never been to. It was easily brought to their attention how unfamiliar the place looked, and how creepy and unwelcoming it was.

Karin had made it a point that they had to keep quiet as they descended. There were many hidden microphones on this side of the ward. The office that they were currently headed towards was the only place that had no wires, and so their conversation would remain private no matter the volume.

Sakura held in a gasp as they passed several observation rooms, one in particular holding something unearthly enough to run a shiver down her spine. It looked as if a Portuguese Man O'War and a giant jellyfish had been forced together and then exploded, black insides coating the walls and floor of the small, padded room. Its very blue center was pulsing with a faint glow, and the tremors throughout its body indicated a heartbeat within. Sakura was disgusted by the unidentifiable creature's appearance, and she turned away with a grimace while the two men beside her continued to look on in sick fascination. Karin kept her gaze forward, clearly having been through these corridors more than any of them.

The rest of the observation rooms were mainly empty, a cold feeling rolling down the trio's spines as they took note of the dried blood stains, some of which were in the shape of hand prints.

Finally, Karin stopped in front of a lonely door at the end of the hall, quietly turning the knob and letting herself and the others in impolitely.

"I was expecting you," came a raspy voice from the other side of the room. A man with long, greasy-looking hair and ghostly pale skin stood up from his desk and sauntered over to them.

"Of course you were," Karin said nonchalantly while shrugging her shoulders, "I told you they were coming."

Ignorning her smartass response, the slightly unnerving man turned towards the three newcomers, "Karin-chan wanted me to not be present during her little slide show, but I'm the only one in here that has the authorization to access the files..." the redhead was ignoring the man's words as she desperately tried to work with something that the others couldn't see from where they sat. The older scientist quietly made his way towards her and took over the seemingly arduous task, "... and I'm the only one who knows how to use this projector."

Karin huffed and pouted, crossing her arms and giving the man a half-hearted glare. When she realized she was being ignored yet again, she turned towards her friends and sighed.

"Everyone, this is Orochimaru, one of the head seniors here in this facility."

"Why have we never met before?" Sasuke demanded rather than asked, sparking Orochimaru's interest immediately.

"Sasuke, don't be rude," Sakura whispered harshly while trying to be discreet.

Karin waved off the question and the others could tell that she was trying really hard not to be overcome by emotion. They sat in silence for a few moments as she took in a few deep breaths before finally standing beside the projector and beginning her tale of honest horror.

"I know you have a lot of questions, but I'm going to take a wild guess, here, and assume you want to know first and foremost about what you saw in one of the observation rooms in the hallway." The others nodded slowly, as if afraid of using their voices.

"Oh, they saw it?" Orochimaru seemed enthusiastic.

"They saw _her_ ," Karin corrected, "She's referred to as Mother."

"That is a vague title that raises many questions!" Lee exclaimed loudly while sitting up straight. Karin shot him a look while Sakura elbowed him lightly. The soldier slumped down in his seat and waited impatiently for further explanation.

"She was discovered several months after the sudden outbreak of the Kansai virus."

"Several months?!" It was Sakura's turn to interrupt, "This virus has been around for almost _thirty years_ now! How could they hide something like this?"

"What is it exactly," Sasuke tried to sound bored, but failed miserably.

"I'm getting to that!" Karin nearly screeched, already itching to pull her hair out, "Let me explain!" Everyone sat silently.

"She is obviously something not of this world."

"A YOUTHFUL ALIEN, PERHAPS?!"

"KEEP INTERRUPTING AND I WON'T TELL YOU ANYTHING AT ALL!"

Silence.

"So, yes, she is an 'alien', I suppose," Karin sighed, "That's the source of all this mayhem." The projector displayed wall-camera footage from Mother's observation room. In the series of clips that played there were many unsuccessful visits to the blue and black creature. Researchers would go in, take samples, and attempt to get a reaction from it. Mother only reacted to pain. Her gelatinous body would glow and jiggle in its shudder.

"Mother is an extraterrestrial parasite that also seems to be... somewhat sentient," Orochimaru continued, "Her body is simply a mass of several organisms living as one, all seemingly under the control of one within - the queen, if you will."

The trio watched as scientists poiked and prodded the creature, constantly causing it pain. Though it was the very source of all their suffering, they couldn't help but pity the parasite for its terrible treatment.

"Through many tests and research, we discovered that the organisms inside of Mother all were used for different tasks. They were separated into 'groups' or 'clusters' that each had an allocated purpose," Orochimaru took a more relaxed position in his chair, holding an air of broken superiority, "And with this information, we found that her offensive group, her 'army', if you will, was what caused this seemingly irreversable outbreak." The others waited patiently for further explanation.

"It seems as though the Kansai virus is simply the organisms from this army group burrowing into the human body, little parasites under the control of the main host, Mother. They need a container to live in, and so they can only be transferred directly into the body - through biting or kissing or sex - like a former fatal disease known as HIV/AIDS."

The projector stopped showing videos of Mother's horrendous treatment and changed to a drawn picture instead. In the drawing, there was the very obvious blob that was their alien attacker surrounded by colored-in shapes of children reaching their arms out towards her.

"Then they discovered something peculiar," Karin spoke again, her voice low and shaking, "When Mother was aware of her life being in danger, she would send out signals. The scientists did a couple of tests and discovered that whenever Mother was fatally wounded out of the blue, she would cower in fear and react normally, but when researchers pretended to plan out her execution before her, she would send out these signals I mentioned before."

"So she understands human speech?" Sakura interrupted quietly.

"It would appear so," Karin nodded and looked towards Orochimaru, who put on a video of the blob sending out the brain signals. A soft, high-pitched sound resonated throughout the room, barely heard by the occupants within.

For some reason, Sasuke couldn't help but feel the sound was familiar. He decided to keep his mouth shut until further explanation.

"A theory was formed," the redhead continued, and her voice was even more shaky than before.

"When an ant colony's queen is killed, what happens?" Orochimaru asked suddenly.

"The colony dies out," Sasuke answered smoothly.

"What happens when a queen bee is killed?"

Sakura answered immediately, "They quickly raise a new one with an emergency supply of royal honey."

"Correct. What happens when a queen be is aware of her impending death?"

Everything seemed to click into place.

"So, Mother's brain signals are calling out to her youth to prepare a new queen?" Lee raised his hand as well and, under normal circumstances, Sasuke would've rolled his eyes; they weren't students anymore.

"Exactly," Orochimaru changed the slide back to the picture of the children worshipping Mother, "We threatened Mother's life and she sent the signal out for days. We wanted to see what would come to the lab to be her 'replacement'. This is what showed up.." He clicked a button on his keyboard and a video from the surveillance camera outside showed up. A little girl was standing right by the door, knocking on it and trying to get into the facility.

"A girl?" Sakura whispered incredulously. She looked to be around ten years old, with mint-colored hair and orange eyes; she was clearly healthy and showed no sign of infection.

"Her name is Chomei Fuu, one of the very few on this Earth considered to be one of Mother's 'children'. In fact, that was how Mother got her name. These were kids born when their mothers were infected, which is a very rare case. Women in labor that contract the virus tend to either die or rip their babies apart, but sometimes they make it out alive, and these are the ones who call the alien _Mother_."

"There are three known 'children' in Japan," Karin's quivering voice caught their attention once again.

"Chomei Fuu," a box appeared on the projector screen of the mint-colored girl strapped to a chair and looking afraid, shaking in her seat. She was clearly saying something and looking around, but the volume had been cancelled out.

"Sabaku no Gaara," Karin listed another, and the screen showed another box next to Fuu's this time with a pale boy with red hair and jade eyes. He was also strapped to a chair, but he sat still and held a stoic expression, opting not to say anything. His nervousness was still revealed through the sweat dripping down his face.

"And Namikaze Naruto," the last box showed up, the boy Sasuke, Sakura and Lee had grown up with strapped to a third chair and stuggling against his bindings, very obviously yelling out in protest to his capture.

Sakura gasped and Lee shouted out in anger while Sasuke's eyes grew to the size of saucers.

"I'm going to show you something," Orochimaru continued, not at all affected by the close relationship the three workers held with the third child. "These are how the children looked when they arrived here at the ages of twelve and thirteen. I'm going to show you how they looked four years after they went through our research and experimentation, and if you don't think you can handle the story, I will wipe your memory and you will leave this room never knowing the horrors of this dark facility.

If you choose to go on, I will assure you that this will be a very unpleasant story you will hear," Orochimaru clicked another button and three very different, barely recognizable, people showed up on the screen.

The three 'children' were obviously older, and they were very much beaten and broken. Their faces were hard and angry, and their hair and skin were dull with exhaustion. Their eyes had a feral look to them - red, red, _red_. There was pain and blood and loss and mental anguish in their heated glares, blood dripping from their gums as they bared their teeth.

The picture on the screen showed three monsters.

"Well?" Karin's voice was soft.

"Are they still alive?" Sakura's voice shook as she continued to make eye contact with Naruto's picture.

"Do you want to know or not?" was the hard reply.

Their morbid curiosity got the better of them.


End file.
